


The Tale of the Youngest Princess

by Port



Series: Purim Tales [2]
Category: 12 Dancing Princesses (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Art Embedded, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Fairy Tale Retellings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:12:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port/pseuds/Port
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With nothing to do while she awaited her sisters’ return every night, Alice had grown bored, each night more than the last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale of the Youngest Princess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



> Sketch is also by the author.
> 
> This takes place after the events of The Tale of the Invisible Soldier, part 1 of this series, and might not make sense on its own.

Alice unlaced the ribbons of her silk toe-shoes and pulled them off her feet. She considered hurling them into the water but instead dropped them by her side onto the wooden dock. Barefoot, she paced the dock from one end to the other until she felt silly for getting herself into such a huff and sat down beside her shoes. They, at least, had stayed where they belonged and not walked away into the dark.

“Oh, Andrea! Where did you go?” She put her head in her hands and sat there for long minutes in the dark, alone by the lapping water of the great lake. Every night since Andrea’s disappearance, Alice and her sisters had walked as usual down the hidden stairway beneath her oldest sister’s bed, down the path that led the way through forests of gold, silver, and diamond, and to this dock. Nothing had been different from any other night; the moon still hung in its accustomed spot in the sky, casting pearlescent light across the water. But every night since Andrea’s disappearance, only eleven boats waited here, each helmed by a beautiful noblewoman of this land. They had helped her sisters into their small boats and rowed away, leaving Alice behind.

She had enquired after Andrea, but the women had shaken their heads. No one knew where she had gone, but since she had left in the twelfth rowboat, they had to assume she was all right. Alice had no way of asking what she really wanted to know, though. 

She moved to the edge of the dock and dangled her feet into the water, found it warm and not unpleasant. With nothing to do while she awaited her sisters’ return every night, Alice had grown bored, each night more than the last. 

_Perhaps I should stop coming_ , she thought. _It’s clear no one is going to replace Andrea and bring me to the ball. In a way, I’ve been disinvited from the festivities._

She cried for a time, but soon felt bored again. 

_What shall I do with my life now?_ she wondered. _I truly thought there would be no end to the nightly balls in that brilliant pavilion. If I had known better, I would have danced longer at each instead of spending half the night standing awkwardly by Andrea’s side. She simply was not a good dancer, though, and my sisters made such fun of me during the day!_

The truth was, she loved dancing, even if her partner had no grace or coordination. 

The thought reverberated in her mind. She loved dancing. Well, then.

By the time her sisters arrived in their eleven boats rowed by eleven noblewomen, their shoes in tatters from overuse, Alice had worn out her own silk slippers. She had invented a dance. Her sisters eyed her dubiously when she told them this dance required no partner, and even music was unnecessary. Their looks told her she must be making up fancies again, but they had to admit Alice’s toe-shoes were thin and ragged. 

“When I’ve perfected the dance,” she told them, “I’ll perform it for you, and you’ll understand.”

And so the twelve dancing princesses walked the rest of the way home, the youngest of them trailing behind to spin the odd pirouette.


End file.
